So Glad We Met
by Charizard58
Summary: After travelling four regions with three fussy and annoying trainers, Ash isn't completely looking forward to visiting the Unova region. However his enthusiasm may chance when he finds the perfect soul mate to travel with. Negaishipping. Rated T
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys, here I am with my brand new 'project.' As you may or may not know I'm not working on 'Best of Negaishipping' anymore as I felt it was time I started working on a new story. Unlike BON this fanfic is a whole story rather than a collection as I found having a collection of stories meant lower audiences. I have tried to use a different approach for this story, for example I have tried to make it longer. This fanfic is a remake of episode BW001/02 which I modified to add some negaishipping in. Anyway here is the first chapter; I hope you enjoy it...**

"You're sending me to the Unova region already?" Ash moaned. It wasn't that Ash necessarily hated travelling around regions with his best friend Pikachu, collecting gym badges and catching wild pokmeon; it was just that after travelling non-stop with Dawn all over Sinnoh, Ash felt that he needed a break. Ash didn't exactly hate Dawn either, she could be okay at times, it was just that she wouldn't stop nagging at Ash as well as moaning or fussing about the way she looked. However if people thought travelling with Dawn for one region was enough pain, Ash had to put up with travelling with May for a whole region before as well as Misty for two regions! As much as he liked the three girls, they were always a pain to travel with. How Ash wished he could just have one travel partner who'd be nice to him and would care for him the way he'd always care for his partners even though they'd barely notice. Especially now Brock had left him after all the time they had travelled together. To Ash, Brock was like a bigger brother. They were best of friends and could always relate to things. He was the only travel companion who properly cared for Ash. Sadly Brock was now gone.

"I'm sure you'll love it there," Professor Oak replied. He was in a different mood than usual today. Instead of wearing his trademark lab coat as well as having mad scientist hair, his hair was all slicked back; he was wearing shades and had a Hawaiian shirt.

Before Ash could say anything else, his mum came into the conversation, putting her hand on Ash's shoulder. "Ash would LOVE to go to the Unova region." She looked down to Ash. "Come on Ash it'll be good exercise for you."

"But mum..."

"Ash don't argue. I'm sure you'll love it there."

Ash sighed. "I wonder why she's in such a rush to get us out of the house," Ash said ignorantly to Pikachu, who was listening to the conversation the whole time.

"Haven't you heard, Professor Oak is moving in with her today," the yellow mouse pokemon replied.

Ash gave a shocked expression. "What! Since when?"

"Didn't you hear? She announced it yesterday at the dinner table."

"So that's why Professor Oak has all those suitcases and bags." Ash watched the professor dump his entire luggage in front of the doorway. "Well it looks like we're off now."

Ash was about to walk into Professor Oak's car but only to be stopped by his mum once again. "Are you sure you've got everything; potions, pokeballs, your sleeping bag, the whole lot?"

"Mum, I thought I told you, I checked last night. I'm fine."

"You better double check then."

Ash sighed. He checked his bag again to the embarrassment of himself. "Yes mum I've got everything."

"Good," she gave Ash the thumbs up. "Goodbye than Ash, enjoy your new region."

"Yeah I'm sure I will." Ash was desperate to finally leave. He was about to finally walk over to the car until his mum once again wrapped her arms around Ash, giving him a massive kiss on the top of his head. "Eww," Ash thought. He was mortified by what his mum had just done but desperately tried to hide it. "Thank god only a few people saw that." He finally went over to the car, sitting in the front seat next to Professor Oak, whom was driving him to the port.

"Bye guys," Delia called. "Be back soon Professor."

"Will do," Professor Oak replied, before lifting his shades up and winking at her. Delia just giggled, whilst flopping her hand. Finally they had set off. As Professor Oak drove, he turned to Ash. "You know you should learn from your mum a lot more. Top woman she is, top woman."

"Yeah," Ash replied sarcastically. "You know, I don't mean to be rude or anything but why exactly are you moving in with my mum?"

"Oh it's just until the lab has finished being refurbished. Besides your mum offered it to me seen as you're going to be in Unova for a while."

They had now finally arrived at the port. "So this is my stop. The boat leaves in two minutes. Thanks for the lift Professor."

"You're quite welcome young Ash."

Ash turned to Pikachu as he hopped onto the steps of the boat. "You ready Pikachu!"

"Of course I am. I can't wait to begin!"

"Me neither Pikachu, let's get started!" Ash now ran up the steps of the boat in excitement. However in those moments of sheer excitement Ash was unable to focus on what he was doing and therefore as he was running across the ferry he ran straight into a waiter coming the opposite way, holding a massive plate of food. There was a loud crash as the plate fell to the floor, smashing into pieces, as well as Ash and the waiter, who was covered in food. On a table, on the boat, a boy stood up, practically pulling his hair out of his head.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The boy yelled at both Ash and the waiter. The boy had blonde/brown hair which went down to his neck. He was wearing an orange jumper with a black shirt as well as trousers that matched his hair colour. "You clumsy oafs, you've spilled my food everywhere. Both Ash and the waiter felt guilty after what had just happened.

"I'm really sorry about that sir," Ash said to the waiter. He was wearing a black waistcoat with a white shirt underneath and had green hair.

"It's okay," the waiter replied. He looked mortified as he was covered in food and now the whole of the boat was staring at him.

"Is there any way I can repay you for all the trouble I've caused?"

"No, no don't sweat it was my fault, I should have been looking more carefully," the waiter said, picking up all the loose pieces of glass.

"Well I shouldn't have been running. I was just a little excited seen as I'm on my way to the Unova for the first time."

The waiter then turned to Ash. "Wow this is going to be the first time then that you're going to Unova? I'm sure you'll love it there. It's a superb region with lots to see."

"Wow sounds great. I've been round four regions already; Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. By the way my names Ash, this is my best mate Pikachu. I'm training to become a pokemon master!"

"That's amazing. My name is Cilan. I work at the Striaton City gym and am training to become a professional connoisseur."

"No way! You work at the Striaton City gym? I heard that's a gym in Unova. I'll probably be facing you then at some point. But another thing, if you're a gym leader then what are you doing working as a waiter then on a boat. Surely you need to be doing your duties at the gym."

"Oh I'm just here to gain some valuable experience as a boating connoisseur, as well as a chef."

Ash's forehead went blue. "A boating connoisseur, seriously?" he thought. He turned back to Cilan. "Sounds great, I'm looking forward to battling you at the gym then." Ash and Cilan's conversation was cut off as the boy who was meant to be served ages ago was starting to get impatient.

"Guys where the hell is my food I've been waiting ages!"

"Oh I'm terribly sorry," Cilan panicked. "I'll get you your food now."

"Lousy chef," the boy muttered.

Ash started to get annoyed at the boys impoliteness. "It wasn't his fault kid. Just give him a break!"

"I have a name!" the boy snapped back. "My name is Trip, not 'kid' you imbecile."

Ash stuck his hand out attempting to befriend Trip. "Well my name is Ash Ketchum. I come from Pallet Town. This is my best friend Pik-"

"I didn't ask for your life story Ash Ketchup!"

"Gee I'm sorry. You don't have to be so immature all of a sudden!"

"Immature," Trip mocked. "Look who's talking. Besides why do you have a Pikachu anyway? He belongs in Kanto."

"Well excuse me but he's my best friend and I've travelled four regions with him so don't you even think about trying to make fun out of him."

Trip now looked impressed. "Wow you've travelled four regions! Have you ever won the league at any of those reasons?"

Ash looked at the floor and started scratching his head. "No," he said disappointedly.

Trip burst into laughter. "Wow what a failure! You call yourself a pokemon master trainee yet you've never beaten the league. That's pathetic! And guess what, you aren't going to win it in Unova either. Because the Tripster is in town! Mwahaha!" Trip walked off laughing evilly.

Ash had an angry expression on his face. He turned to Pikachu. "Well isn't he a jerk!"

"Don't worry; you'll beat him for sure. Also how's a cocky ignorant guy like him going to get along?" Pikachu replied.

"You're right! If he thinks he can stop me, he better work for it not spend all of his time acting like a jerk."

Ash watched as his boat arrived at the Unova port. "Well Pikachu, it's time we got off now." Ash and Pikachu walked down the steps in pure excitement. As Ash walked off the boat and onto the concrete platform of the port, the duo took some time to breathe in the air around them. "Wow this place looks awesome! I can't wait to conquer it!"

"We'll see about that." The duo heard a familiar dark voice. Trip walked past Ash and Pikachu smirking once again. "You'll just have a little competition."

"Oh yeah, well who then? Do you think you can stop me?"

"Just wait until I've got my first pokemon. Then we'll well and truly see whose boss."

As Trip started to walk off into the distance Ash started to get irritated. "I'd like to see you try. Like a pokemon would even obey a snob like you."

Trip turned round with an angry face. "What did you just call me?"

Ash now started to realise what trouble he had caused as Trip stared at Ash making him feel slightly guilty. "Nothing."

"I heard what you said! Just because you've screwed up in four previous regions and go round saying 'I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town' with that ugly fat Pikachu of yours doesn't mean you can go round thinking that you're big." Ash was now starting to get annoyed. Not only because of Trip's incredibly lame impression but because he had insulted Ash's best friend in the whole word, Pikachu, who was also having none of it. Pikachu's face had gone bright red. Most of the time Pikachu was mature enough to control his anger; but not this time. He let out a massive thunder shock straight at Trip which caught everyone on the ports attention. As Trip yelled in pain, Ash could only find the whole situation rather amusing. Trip was now running around crazily in pain but unfortunately as he was in so much pain, he was unaware of the fact that he was right on the edge of the platform. He unexpectedly found himself wobbling on the edge and before he could try and stop himself he fell off and straight into the sea below. Even though Trip falling into the water was absolutely hilarious, Ash was no longer laughing. While everyone else on the platform was laughing nonstop at what they had just seen, Ash stood there with his hand covering his mouth in shock.

"Pikachu," Ash began worriedly. "You probably should have done that." Before Pikachu could reply however an angry ten year old boy climbed up onto the platform from the sea absolutely drenched and with an angry look on his face. He walked straight over to Ash with his face starting to go red.

"ASH KETCHUM YOU BASTARD!" He yelled causing everyone to gasp. "You're going to pay for that! You humiliated me!" Even though he was fuming with rage, Trip was desperately trying to get himself to calm himself down.

"I'm terribly sorry Trip," Ash replied nervously.

"You better be! But it doesn't matter. You'll make up for this later when I take you on. Then you'll be humiliated yourself. By Me!" Trip then walked off laughing evilly once again, still incredibly soaked and completely ignoring everyone staring at him as he walked off.

All the people on the platform were now talking to each other after what they had just seen. "Well that kid is plain bonkers." "I wouldn't like him to be my son." "That kid better learn his manners." Those were just a few of the statements Ash heard.

"Well that was crazy," Ash said looking down to the floor.

"Don't worry. That kid just thinks he's big and all. You'll show him one day. You should just concentrate on your own progress," Pikachu replied.

Ash clenched his fist. "You're right. Never mind him. This is my journey!" Ash and Pikachu finally walked off of the platform and into the wilderness. "Unova region here we are!"

**So that is basically the first chapter. I know the story hasn't really taken off yet but trust me it will so stay tuned. The negaishipping parts may not come in for at least another couple of chapters but that's only because that's how the story shall work, not because I necessarily wanted to cut back on negaishipping. I also expect to have more scenes with Trip and Cilan in the story so don't threat. Nevertheless I hope you enjoyed reading this story. Also please REVIEW and tell me what you think about this story and what you would like to see to improve this story. I love seeing that you had the time to send me an actual review so once again please review. You can send me a DM as well if there is anything you are confused about in this story. I will definitely reply so don't be afraid. I will try and publish the next chapter as soon as possible and will maybe update you on how I'm getting on via my profile page but until then stay tuned for more...**

**BYEEEEEEEEEE!**

**P.S. Please follow me/this story.**

**P.P.S. I promise that Iris will come into the story in the next chapter.**

**Charizard58**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys. I'm back with the second chapter of So Glad We Met. Sorry I haven't been able to update as quickly. It's just that I've had loads of homework. I know it's a lame excuse but hopefully this chapter will make up for it. There's not much else for me to say so without further ado let's continue the story. By the way I may have made up some of the pokemon and their moves in this seen as this story is based right at the start of the series.**

Meanwhile in a nearby village was a young girl destined for success as a dragon master. "Wow, you really think I'm ready?"

"Of course Iris," an older lady replied. "In the past weeks you've proved that you have what it takes to become a successful pokemon trainer."

"But Elder I don't know what it's like out there. Besides I've barely got to know Axew."

"That's a fair point. But maybe going on an adventure will be good for you. You'll make lots of friends." Iris stood stone cold at what Elder had just said. Making friends was something Iris had always had difficulty with. Iris was always different to other kids at school. They would always find a reason to pick on her. Sometimes it was for her purple pine tree style hair or because of the clothes she wore, whatever the reason people would always decide to pick on her.

"Maybe it could be a new start."

"Exactly you'll love it for sure. Going on a pokemon journey is an unforgettable experience." Iris thought for a couple of minutes. Was going on a pokemon journey really something she wanted to do. Apart from going to school, Iris barely ever left the Village of Dragons. She was always worried about bumping into a huge ice type pokemon. Iris had a big phobia of ice type pokemon. This was because of an incident that happened a few years back in school. While all of the other girls were playing hopscotch or double dutch, Iris liked to play in the trees all by herself, as she didn't have any friends. One day however, a wild beartic escaped from a nearby pokemon centre and managed to break into the school. Back then Iris wasn't scared of any type of pokemon and therefore jumped out of the tree to try and befriend the wild pokemon. The beartic unfortunately wasn't used to humans talking to it so therefore started to get angry. While poor old Iris still tried to understand beartic's feelings, the beartic let out a huge ice beam attack freezing Iris to a crisp. Iris tried to scream for help but despite managing to catch the attention of all her classmates around her, everyone was laughing at her. Finally people would try to break the ice and free her but only by throwing rocks at her, trying to crack the ice. By the time Iris was free she was covered in bruises, was slightly wet from some of the ice that had melted and was frozen cold, therefore shivering for the rest of the day. From that point on Iris had a dreaded fear of all ice type pokemon.

"But what about my phobia for ice types," Iris replied.

"I discussed that with your parents. I'm sure you'll be able to overcome it someday, as long as you get the support you need. Trust me you'll have a great time. I'm sure you're ready. You've just got to believe in yourself."

Iris thought for another few seconds. "Then I'll do it. Just call me dragon trainer Iris!"

"That's the spirit! But first you should pack your bags and say goodbye to your family." Iris took along time saying goodbye. This was a huge step in Iris' life and she knew she wouldn't be able to see her family for a long time. She also spent a long time packing her bags, considering hat clothes to wear etc...

"What do you think Axew?" Iris asked pulling out a whole load of outfits from her wardrobe."

"That one," Axew pointed to a beige shirt with a skirt with a pink bow.

"Do you like it Axew? I mean you haven't seen me wear it yet."

"No but I'm sure it will suit you." Iris slipped her outfit on quickly as both Axew and herself were desperate to start their journey. She packed her bag with lots of other items before rushing outside. Before she left for the first time she went quickly to say goodbye to Elder. "Bye Elder, wish me good luck!" Elder had always been a key figure in Iris' life. She was always someone who stood up for Iris and believed in her, even when times were tough. Iris would have never been away from her for such a long time.

"Goodbye young Iris," Elder smiled as she waved Iris goodbye for what would be a long journey. "I believe in you Iris, you can do it. Just make sure you have the time of your life. I'll be supporting you all the way." Iris hugged Elder for the final time before setting off excitedly. She ran through the whole Village of Dragons looking happier than a kid in a candy shop. However once she had finally exited the village she stopped. Something didn't feel right about what she was doing.

"Oh Iris why did stop running?" Axew moaned before looking at his trainer with a concerned expression. "Are you okay Iris. What's the matter?"

"Oh nothing," Iris however still looked worried, as did Axew.

"Are you sure?"

"Okay I admit it; I don't think I'm ready yet."

"Ready for what?" Axew replied, wide eyed.

"I don't think I'm quite ready to go on a pokemon journey yet, I mean, I already miss my family."

"Don't worry about it," Axew continued to console Iris. "I'll be with you all the way, there's nothing for you to worry about, besides you've got Excadrill too."

"Yeah you're right," Iris was now happier following what Axew had said. "People still believe in me, I'm not going to let them down!"

"That's the spirit Iris! Don't let anything bring you down!"

"I'm going to go out there and be the best dragon trainer the pokemon world has ever seen!" Iris continued enthusiastically. Iris ran into a nearby forest. "According to this map Elder gave me, this is the way to Striaton City, the first city of the region."

"Only problem is that we've got to get through this forest," Axew replied looking around himself. The forest they were in was massive. There were trees everywhere and wild pokemon could be heard rustling in the bushes. "Er Iris, are you sure you know where you're going?"

"It's easy," Iris replied confident she knew what she was doing. "I'll just follow the path."

"But Iris, there are lots of paths. Arceus knows what this path leads to."

"Let's find out..." Iris and Axew followed the path. However the further they went the darker it got, even to a point where the duo started to feel concerned.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Axew asked anxiously. However as the duo continued to walk a wild pidove flew out from a tree to the shock of Iris, who screamed. "Are you okay Iris?" Axew asked to his trainer, who had her hands covering her face, only for someone nearby to butt in completely.

"Well that was pathetic. It was only a tiny little pidove yet you're freaking out and everything."

"I'm sorry," Iris replied angrily. "You don't have to be so rude about it all of a sudden!"

"Yeah give her a break!" Axew added on. "It's only her first day on a journey!"

"Oh is it?" The girl replied. "Why it's my first day too. Only I would've destroyed that pidove instead of scream like a coward. Anyway let me introduce myself. My name is Georgia."

"My name is Iris. This is my best mate Axew."

Georgia looked rather smug now. "Hey do you know what would be a great way to get to know each other? A battle."

Axew didn't look too confident unlike his trainer, who was looking more eager than ever at this opportunity. "You're on!" Iris replied. "Axew you're prepared to battle aren't you?"

Axew gulped. "Er I guess so," he replied nervously.

"Then I'm ready!"

"Wow she's using a dragon type pokemon on me. Oh boy, she's going to regret this," Georgia thought. Axew was now standing on his side of the battle area. Georgia sniggered. "Well now it's time to see who I'll be using," Georgia shouted. "Vanillite, come on out!"

Iris looked on in horror. "Oh no she's got an ice type! How did she know?" Iris thought to herself. "Oh well, never mind. As Elder said if I'm going to do well on my journey I've got to overcome my fears."

"What do you think about Axew now then?" Georgia teased.

"I wouldn't say that yet," Iris replied, trying to keep her hopes up even though she knew Vanillite was the clear favourite to win the battle.

"You can start first," Georgia said temptingly.

"Fine I will," Iris replied determinedly. "Okay Axew, use scratch!" Axew charged over to Vanillite holding its sharp claws out. Surprisingly Georgia didn't make any kind of effort to get Vanillite to dodge. Vanillite just stood helplessly as Axew swiped at him. However Vanillite looked the least bit hurt. Whilst Georgia giggled as Iris failed to make a breakthrough, Iris stared on worriedly. "Oh no, nothing happened! Axew only knows two moves and the other is a dragon type move which is not going to be effective. Oh well what choice do I have?"

Meanwhile Georgia was now choosing Vanillite's next move. "Vanillite, hit back with Astonish!" Axew was unable to dodge either as the attack hit him straight on."

"Axew NO!" Iris yelled in concern as Axew slid across the floor following the impact. Luckily Axew was able to get up again and dust away all the bruises it had picked up. "Way to go Axew!" Iris encouraged her dragon type pokemon as it stood up, ready to counter. "Now use Dragon Rage!"

"Oh my god she's using a dragon type move. This girl's obviously pretty stupid," Georgia said sarcastically under her breath. "Vanillite dodge it," she commanded sarcastically as if it needed no effort at all. Vanillite easily dodged it leaving Iris and Axew more concerned, unlike Georgia and Vanillite.

"Nothing's working," Iris panicked. "What am I going to do?"

On the other hand Georgia was looking more and more smug. "Well this just keeps getting easier," she said under her breath. "Now Vanillite use Harden!" Georgia commanded.

"She's using a status move? She must be confident. We can't even get close to inflicting damage anyway. We've got to do something about this!" Iris thought. "Axew we've got to improve!" Iris ordered, slightly competitive now. Axew on the other hand just stood there looking confused. He was used to Iris sometimes acting over the top but he had never experienced his actual trainer getting this worked up. "Try Dragon Rage once again!" This time Axew let out a mighty Dragon Rage which Vanillite had absolutely no chance of avoiding. It hit the ice type pokemon straight on and for the first time it looked like damage had been inflicted. "That was awesome Axew!" Iris cheered delightedly.

For once Georgia was looking not just worried but also mortified. "She actually managed to inflict damage on me, with a dragon type move!" she thought. Georgia hated dragon types. It wasn't that she was necessarily scared of them; it was just that she had a massive thing against them. This was because of an incident a couple of years back. Georgia had always liked dragon type pokemon, like Iris. She also wanted to become a dragon master so she one day went to the Village of Dragon to train. Elder herself was also keen on Georgia training to become a dragon master so lent Georgia a pokemon so that she could practice on it. It was a Dragonite. With a pokemon sorted Georgia and Dragonite went off a forest right next to the village. Georgia tried to teach her Dragonite several moves and techniques but for some reason it just wouldn't listen. Every time she would try harder and harder to get Dragonite to do a move but this Dragonite wasn't used to obeying orders and just stood there. As Georgia kept on encouraging her Dragonite to make an effort, it eventually got angry and had a sudden outburst. While Georgia tried to get it to calm down, it flew into the air and started throwing flamethrowers everywhere, not just at Georgia but all over the forest. All the people of the Village of Dragons were now panicking as most of the forest had been burned down. However it was poor old Georgia who looked concerned the most and to her horror the Dragonite then flew away. She tried desperately to get it to come back as she knew that if the Dragonite got away she was in for a lot of trouble but unfortunately the Dragonite had already gone into the distance. As Georgia explained to Elder what happened, Elder looked far from happy. Not only had Georgia been responsible for burning down three quarters of a forest, she had lost one of Elders most valuable pokemon. Georgia tried to defend herself, claiming that she tried her hardest to get Dragonite to calm down but Elder was having none of it. From that point on Georgia had been banned from the Village of Dragons meaning her dreams of becoming a dragon master were now over. From that point on Georgia called herself the 'Dragon Buster' as it was her mission to try and get revenge on all dragon trainers. As Georgia looked on at Iris celebrating, she knew that she would either have to go hard or go home. "It's time to bring out the big move. Vanillite use Ice Beam!"

In the midst of her happiness after hitting Vanillite, Iris was completely unaware that it was using a powerful ice type move. "Axew dodge!" Iris commanded. Axew managed to somehow dodge the move but the attack was now heading straight at Iris, who just stood there petrified. As the Ice Beam came closer to Iris, she screamed so loud that the whole forest could hear before jumping straight into a tree as fast as a cheetah.

Georgia stood looking confused at what she had just witnessed. "Hello, have you forfeited or something?" Georgia called.

Iris was still rather shaken up, sitting in the tree. "Okay okay I'll give you some pokedollars just get that ice type away from me!" Iris screamed. She dropped some money out of the tree. Georgia still was rather confused but nevertheless she took the money, putting it straight into her pocket, before walking off.

"Sucker!" Georgia said out loud before walking off laughing. Axew jumped into the tree Iris was huddled in to comfort in.

However Iris had now gone from heavily panicking to being rather depressed. "What did I just do?" She asked herself dissapointedly. "I completely chickened out of that battle, just because of an ice type move. Yet Elder actually thought I was ready to go on a journey? Oh I'm such a fail!"

Axew tried her best to console her. "Don't be like that Iris. You tried your best. Besides it's only your first battle."

However Axew's attempts to make Iris feel better were not much of a consolation as Iris became more upset. "Oh what am I going to do? I already miss home. And there's no going back now." Iris now burst into tears.

**And there we have it. Chapter 2 done! Sorry about it being so short. I just had massive writers block. I'll try and update ASAP although I can't promise you when that'll be but I'll try my best. PLEASE PLEASE review. I love it when people give up their time to review. It gives me a lot more confidence and therefore the next chapter should be out sooner.**

**BYEEEEEEEEEE!**

**P.S. I know the duo still haven't met up yet but I promise they will next chapter so please stay tuned...**

**P.P.S. I promise that Georgia, Trip and Cilan will all re-enter the story at some point.**

**P.P.P.S. If you were confused about any part of the story then feel free to ask me a question, whether it's in the review or in a DM. Whatever the source I promise I will reply and answer.**

**P.P.P.P.S. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys thanks for joining me once again for the next chapter of 'So Glad We Met.' I'm sorry if it's kind of lame as I've struggled for ideas lately but hopefully as I work through this fanfic more ideas will pop into my head. Before I start I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who sent in a review lately. It means a lot seeing that all of you have given up your time to post your opinion so please keep on sending the review. Without further ado, we'll start the next chapter. I hope you're all sitting comfortably...**

**(DISCLAIMER: I do not own pokemon.)**

As and excited Ash continued to run. He suddenly stopped to take a look at where he was. Unfortunately for himself he had just run off into a forest in the past moments of sheer excitement. "Oh Great," Ash remarked sarcastically. He looked around the forest but wherever he looked it was all tonnes of tall trees and massive shadows. "How did I get here?" Ash asked himself as he continued to look confused.

"Beats me," Pikachu replied equally as baffled.

"Oh well, no big deal," Ash said, now speaking more confidently. "I can get through anywhere as long as I've got this useful map of the Unova region Professor Oak gave me." However from utter confidence Ash suddenly stood in shock as he looked through his bag only to realise his map was not there. "My map, where has it gone?" Ash panicked. "Pikachu this isn't funny, where have you hidden it."

Pikachu just stood there though looking completely stunned. "What no! I didn't take it. You must have left it on the ferry."

Ash now looked more concerned. "Oh no you're probably right as well!" Ash continued to worry. "We should probably go back to the pokemon centre by the dock and see if they have a map we can get."

Pikachu now stood looking slightly embarrassed at his trainer's stupidity. "Er Ash, the whole reason we needed a map in the first place is because we ran away from the dock and got lost."

Ash's face dropped once again. He now felt a sudden rush of anger run through him before suddenly having a massive outburst. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He yelled massively making pretty much every pidove in the forest fly out of their tree and into the skies.

Ash sunk to his knees continuing to moan while Pikachu tried to make light of the situation. "Oh come on Ash. Think about it. The whole situation would've been a whole lot worse had Dawn, Misty or May still been with you." Even though Pikachu did have a fair point, it still didn't begin to make Ash feel better. When Ash travelled with Dawn things were a lot worse. To be fair losing a map right in the middle of the forest is a decent reason to be concerned but Dawn tended to throw a strop over anything. When Ash was travelling with Dawn back in Sinnoh, she one day got up to do her hair only to realise her hairbrush had gone. It hadn't gone missing or anything it was just that Pikachu and Brock's Croagunk decided to play a little prank on her. However Dawn was completely unaware of any kind of prank and therefore went mental, thinking her hairbrush had gone missing. At first the two pokemon found the scenario hilarious as Dawn continued to get moodier. However it eventually got to the point where Dawn was so angry that Ash and co had to stay at camp until they found her hairbrush, which as the two pokemon somehow forgot where they had hidden it, was several hours. When Dawn had finally found her hairbrush, and later discovered that Pikachu and Croagunk had hidden the hairbrush as a prank, Dawn was not happy. What happened after that point was something Pikachu dreaded to recap.

"Well maybe Dawn would have had a spare map," Ash replied, his mood starting to worsen.

"Gee Ash you don't have to be so moody all of a sudden," Pikachu replied.

"Look I'm sorry," Ash apologized, starting to calm down. "It's been a long day. And the fact that we're right in the middle of nowhere just tops it all off."

"It's alright Ash, we'll make it through this forest somehow," Pikachu replied confidently, jumping onto his trainer's shoulder. If there was something more than anything Pikachu hated, it was his trainer feeling low. When he saw one of Ash's friends feeling upset, he'd sometimes feel a tad guilty but whenever it was his trainer Pikachu knew he had to make him feel better. After all Ash was Pikachu's best friend and he knew that if he himself was feeling low, Ash would always make him feel better.

"I know we will," Ash said determinedly. "Besides the whole point in going on a pokemon journey is so you can go to your limits and prove that you can get past any obstacles. If I do ever manage to become a pokemon master, I'll be able to tackle any stupid forest with my eyes shut."

"That's the spirit Ash!" Pikachu replied cheerfully.

"It doesn't matter if we don't exactly know where we're going. We'll find our way easily."

However even Pikachu was slightly unconfident about what Ash had just suggested. "Er Ash, I'm not faulting your enthusiasm or anything, but are you suggesting that we just walk anywhere and hope that eventually we'll find our way out?"

"I guess so. I mean how hard can it be buddy? It should get easier. Besides I've been in worse situations."

At this point Pikachu gave in to his trainer's determination. "Fine we'll do your idea."

"Great then lets set off!" After walking a slight distance Ash thought he was starting to get the hang of finding his way out. However little did he know that he in fact was still making no progress at all. "Er Pikachu."

"What is it Ash?"

"I hate to say this, but I've got a bad feeling about this."

As the duo continued walking, their doubts got bigger. "Why don't you just ask someone?" Pikachu asked.

"Well maybe I would if there was anyone in the forest. Surely they'd have better things to do than wander around in a forest."

"I'm sure there are a few people in here, well who aren't lost at least."

"Lets hope so, I'm getting hungry here."

The duo now walked on looking not only for a way out but also someone to ask directions for. Finally though they came across someone tucked up into a tree. As they were in the darker area of the tree, all Ash could see was a shadow. "Look there's someone in that tree, why don't you ask them for directions?"

"Fine then I'll ask them." Ash cleared his throat. "Um excuse me; do you know which way it is to Striaton City?"

The mysterious person in the tree happened to be Iris, although Ash didn't know that of course. However as she was still disappointed after what had just happened, she rudely pointed in a random direction. "That way."

"Okay thanks for that," Ash replied.

In the tree though, Axew popped out from Iris' massive bushy purple hair. "Iris, why did you just do that? That boy kindly asked for directions. You don't know where Striaton is either so you didn't need to point somewhere random."

"Yeah I guess your right," Iris replied in dismay. "I probably should've told him I was lost too. Perhaps we should go and find him and tell them."

However Ash and Pikachu had already ran off in the direction Iris pointed to. "Er I think it's a bit late to do that now."

Iris started to feel slightly guilty as she was completely unaware of what was in that direction. "Oh well I guess he'll find out sooner or later."

"I hope so," Axew thought.

Meanwhile Ash and Pikachu were excitedly following the path Iris had sent them. "Man I can't wait to get to Striaton and get my first gym badge. I might even meet Cilan again."

"I can't wait either. It's about time we get some rest as well. It sure has been a long day of travelling," Pikachu added on.

"You're right. Besides I sure could get something to eat right now."

Pikachu rolled his eyes. "Ash you're always talking about food. We have much more important issues right now."

"But I'm hungry," Ash moaned.

"Well you can eat all the food you want when we get to Striaton."

"Well let's hope that's soon then."

"Don't worry Ash; I'm sure it will be." However the duo's confidence once again worsened as they now came across a part of the forest which looked quite badly damaged. It had trees which had practically fallen down, on top of the fact that Striaton City still wasn't in sight. "Something seems weird about this place," Pikachu said rather nervously.

"It sure does," Ash trembled.

Meanwhile, in Pallet Town, Kanto was Ash's mum, Delia. As she watched Professor Oak continue to unpack all of his belongings in the house, she switched on the TV. She had her feet up and was eating a massive bowl of popcorn, right in front of the television. "Are you alright Professor?" She asked.

"Oh don't worry I'm okay!"Professor Oak replied, sweating while he carried a couple of heavy boxes up the staircase. "There are only a few more boxes to carry."

Delia rolled her eyes. "That professor," she said to herself. "Deary me!" As she began to watch TV the news suddenly came on.

"Hello I am Kent Tucker, this is PokeNews. We have been reported some breaking news from Unova. We are hearing that legendary dragon pokemon Zekrom has been spotted in a forest nearby Striaton City, attacking the wildlife there. Several trees have been knocked over, and lots of wild pokemon have appeared to have fainted."

As the news reporter continued to describe the events, Delia dropped her popcorn onto the floor and sat looking shell-shocked. "Oh no, Ash might be there!" She panicked. "I better go and get that xtransceiver, Professor Oak gave me." She rushed to get her xtransceiver and quickly tried to call Ash. However there was no answer. She tried another couple of times but there was still no answer. Now Delia really started to panic. "Professor, Professor, quickly you've got to come down there's something very wrong!" she called.

Professor Oak immediately rushed down. "What is it?" He asked panting.

"I've been trying to call Ash for ages now but he doesn't seem to be answering." Professor Oak looked slightly confused. He too tried to call Ash but there was still no response.

"Hmm, that's funny," he said looking baffled.

"I know," Delia continued to panic. "Ash never ignores his xtransceiver calls."

"I'll try calling Professor Juniper to check that it's not our xtransceiver that's having issues." Funnily enough, Professor Juniper finally picked up her xtransceiver.

"Hello Professor," Juniper began. "Is anything the matter?"

"She answered," Professor Oak thought in confused fashion. "Well there is Professor," he began. "You see we were trying to call Ash Ketchum to see how he was getting on but for some reason he wouldn't answer. He's not the type of person to suddenly ignore everyone's calls. Do you know if anything's the matter?"

"I'm not sure," Juniper replied. "I saw him earlier today though. We didn't even talk for that long I just gave him my xtransceiver details and some stuff he may need for his journey. He was off like a flash. What if I try and call him with my other xtransceiver?" For a moment the trio waited for any kind of response but still couldn't make contact with him. "No response. What's the matter? His xtransceiver can't be broken surely?" The trio now felt more concerned.

"I just hope that he and Pikachu are alright," Delia stressed.

Meanwhile on a boat, as Cilan continued to clean the tables, he spotted something unusual. "A Unova map? I wonder whose it is." He turned it over. It had a rather familiar name on. "Ash Ketchum? But he left the boat ages ago. He must have forgotten it. Maybe I should see if he's still around so I can give it back to him." However he stopped when he heard a crack of thunder. "Actually I'll give it to him when he arrives in Striaton."

Back in the forest, Ash too could hear thunder. "That doesn't sound great Pikachu," Ash said, looking up at the sky. The sky had now gone from a light grey to a very dark grey, on the verge of black.

"Why don't you call Professor Juniper on the xtransceiver for help?" Pikachu suggested.

"You're right. Maybe she has a clue as to what's going on." Ash dug out his xtransceiver and tried to call Professor Juniper. However Ash couldn't even hear the xtransceiever ring. He looked at it in confusion. "Oh no!" he panicked. "No connection? You've got to be kidding me!"

"I wonder if it's to do with the storm," Pikachu replied.

"Well whatever the case we've got to get out of this mess quickly. If only I had a map."

However as the duo still stood around looking concerned, a dragon figure appeared to be flying across the fly. "Hey look at that!" Pikachu pointed.

"Huh," Ash replied before looking up to the sky. "What is that?" He got out his pokedex, which gave a lecture about Zekrom. "Zekrom, the legendary pokemon? Cool!" However things got worse as a real sense of fear was in the air as not only was there a dark sky, Zekrom appeared to be flashing lightning everywhere.

"Oh no, what do we do?" Pikachu panicked.

"We've got to find shelter somewhere, but where? All the trees here seem to have been cut down."

"And it looks like Zekrom is heading for us!" Pikachu added on.

"What a day!" Ash thought as only worse was to come.

Meanwhile still sat in a tree was Iris. "Are you still miserable about what happened with Georgia?" Axew asked. "That was ages ago. Just put it behind you already. Can't we just move on and get to Striaton?"

"I would," Iris replied. "If I knew the way," she replied shamefully. She sighed. "Today's been a rough day I guess. I've had a couple of bad experiences. It's kind of hard to move on."

Axew sighed. "Fine then, well are you going to at least get out of the tree?" Iris didn't reply to that question and instead just stood still once again. "I'll take that as a no then." The duo continued to sit in the tree without talking to each other for a few minutes before Axew finally broke the ice. "Hey you know that trainer who asked for directions. Where did you send him again?" Iris pointed in the same direction she had sent Ash. Axew suddenly started to panic. "What! So you're saying you sent him to the place where we can hear all of this thunder and lightning coming from.

Iris finally got up and gasped. "Oh my god, you're right!" I wonder if he's okay! Oh I'm such a fool!"

Axew tried to get Iris to calm down. "Oh come on Iris, I'm sure he'll be-" he was suddenly interrupted by a loud crash of lightning and the sound of a loud cry. "Fine," Axew finished off his sentence in concern.

"Oh no, that might have been him! We've got to help him!"

"But Iris," Axew tried desperately to hold Iris back. "It's too dangerous out there. "That lightning could seriously hurt you."

Iris suddenly snapped back at him. "I don't care! I put someone's life in real danger. I've got to save them. Besides as Elder said taking risks are what make you a great trainer. Now come on let's go and save them." Iris and Axew rushed to where they heard the lightning as quickly as possible, even though they barely had a clue where they were going. They knew that they had to find whoever had been struck as quick as possible until they came across a more spooky part of the forest where a load of trees had been knocked over, as well as an electricity pole.

"This place looks scary, Axew thought. "But never mind, we have to go and find that boy." After ten minutes of nonstop running, Iris and Axew came across a rather uncomfortable sight. A stricken Ash lay on the floor with Pikachu right next to him, with a few bruises, panicking like crazy. He had been calling for help for the past ten minutes now and was relieved to see that someone had arrived.

"Oh my god!" Iris cried as she saw Ash unconscious on the floor before Pikachu came running up to her. "What happened?"

"Oh thank Arceus someone came. We were minding our own business and then suddenly a huge flash of lightning came and struck Ash," he panicked. "Please can you help?"

"I'll try," Iris replied rather nervously. Iris wasn't sure what to do in this situation. She was no doctor herself. She was taught first aid back in school but Iris always decided to mess around and therefore never actually learnt anything. How she would regret doing so. After thinking for ages what to do, she still couldn't think of anything. In the end she prayed that Ash was not in a critical condition and just slightly unconscious. She went over to Ash and just started tapping him gently. "Wake up," she whispered. "Please kid, please please wake up." Ash still wasn't waking up though leaving Iris to panic even more. "Come on wake up. It's alright the lightning has stopped, you'll be alright. Just please wake up." As Iris continued to shake Ash, both pokemon prayed nervously, until finally, after ages of being shaken, Ash began to open his eyes...

**And there we have it, the end of chapter 3. Sorry to leave you on kind of a cliff hanger but I'll try and update as soon as possible to make up for it. Anyway thanks a lot for reading this. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW. It doesn't take all the effort in the world. I've had a lot of people follow or favourite this lately (which is amazing!) So if you are prepared to do that then surely you'd be prepared to send a comment. I love reading all of your comments. They certainly make my day so please don't be afraid. Even if there was something you didn't like about the story I'll always learn. Once again, if there was anything you were confused about in the story then feel free to mention so in the review or just send me a PM. I will always answer to don't sweat. Please stay tuned for more of this story...**

**BYEEEEEEEEEE!**

**Charizard58**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi fellow readers, once again I'm back with the next chapter of 'So Glad We Met.' Once again I apologize for the fact that I didn't update in a while. It's just that I didn't get round to writing this chapter for a while though I have worked hard on it in the past few days. Anyway I hope you're all sitting comfortably, if so then lets begin...**

As Ash woke his eyes, the sky above was now slightly lighter than before. The clouds were starting to disappear and the sun even started to come out, causing a rainbow to appear. However in front of all of that was a face. This took Ash by surprise at first; causing him to jump back a little, but eventually he saw that they meant no harm. "It's alright, you're safe now," Iris said.

Ash stood there looking at the Iris' face in awe. All the duo could do now was stare at each others eyes. "Wow this girl's kind of pretty," Ash thought. "What shall I say to her?" He knew that eventually he would have to say something, or Iris would lose interest. He decided to say the first thing that came out of his mouth. However he began to wish he had not done so. "Do I know you?" he blurted out. "Oh boy," he thought. "I probably shouldn't have said that."

Iris looked confused. "You remember me don't you? You asked me for directions and I stupidly led you here."

Ash began to take a look around him."Wait a second," he suddenly jumped up from off the ground. "Where am I? What happened?"

"You were struck by lightning, Zekrom lightning," Pikachu began. "You might have forgotten some stuff about it though; the lightning hit you very hard. It completely knocked you out!"

"But you're okay now," Iris added. She now began to introduce herself. "My name's Iris, I come from the Village of Dragons. I'm training to become a dragon master. This is my partner Axew," she continued, pointing to Axew.

"Awesome!" Ash replied. "I should probably introduce myself too. My name's Ash, I come from Pallet Town in Kanto. I'm training to become a pokemon master. This is my best buddy Pikachu, though you've probably worked that out by now."

Iris began to admire Ash. "Wow you've came all the way from Kanto, that's awesome! I've never been to Kanto."

"You've never even left home," Axew teased.

"Shut up Axew," Iris muttered. She turned back round to Ash again. "Besides I haven't actually met anyone outside this region."

"Well now you have! Ash replied cheerfully. "Wow, you want to be a dragon master! I've never bumped into someone like that before. Not in four regions!"

Iris looked rather surprised now. "You've been to four regions! That's awesome. But have you seriously not met another dragon master before? They're very popular here in Unova."

"Oh awesome! This is kind of my first day so I obviously haven't seen many."

"This is your first day? Well what better way than to show you around."

As Iris began to walk, and Ash would follow, Axew kept trying to warn Iris. "Iris what on earth are you doing? You don't have a clue where we're going. Besides you can't really show him around if you're stuck in a forest."

Iris rolled her eyes. As much as Axew's comments started to tick her off, Iris knew that she didn't have a clue where she was gong. However on this occasion she desperately wanted to impress her new friend Ash. "Axew can you just let me take charge for once." She whispered. "Besides he is kind of cute, I don't want him to think I'm lazy or something."

The duo continued to walk around, with Iris leading the way. Ash was slightly confused at Iris' behaviour. "I wonder what she's doing. It doesn't particularly look like she knows where she's actually going," he thought.

Pikachu was also starting to feel concerned as Iris continued to lead them to the middle of nowhere. He tried to alert Ash that Iris clearly didn't have a clue as to where they were going. "Ash, I'm not so sure this is the right way. Maybe we should tell her or at least help her find the way somehow."

"Well to be fair we don't exactly know the way either," Ash replied.

As Ash and Pikachu continued to argue behind, Axew was now starting to take notice of their frustration. "Look Iris, you're not going anywhere and by the look of things Ash and Pikachu are getting kind of tired of being led in the wrong direction."

Iris suddenly stopped walking. "Yeah I guess you're right. I wouldn't want to get Ash lost or anything. But what am I going to tell them. If they found out that I didn't know how to read a map they'd instantly humiliate me."

"I'm sure they wouldn't. They seem mature. Besides what choice do you have? You have loads of other secrets that people will discover someday. And trust me, not being able to read a map isn't your worst."

That suddenly shook Iris. Axew was right. If struggling to read a map made Ash and Pikachu laugh then god knows how hysterical their laughter would be if they found out that Iris was scared of ice types. She turned round, much to the surprise of Ash and Pikachu. "Er guys, I've got something to say."

"What is it?" Both Ash and Pikachu thought.

"I-I I don't have a clue where I'm going." Ash and Pikachu both sighed in disappointment. "I've been stuck in this forest all day, looking for some sort of way to get out but unfortunately the more I've tried, the more lost I've become."

"Though I hate to admit it, I too have been stuck in this forest all day," Ash replied.

Iris sat on a low nearby tree branch and sighed, with her cheek now sunk into her hand. "Oh we're going to be stuck in this forest forever." Tears were now starting to come down her face. "I should've listened to Elder when she was telling me how to get through this forest."

As Iris continued to cry, Ash felt slightly bad knowing that he hadn't done anything either to help. "If I hadn't left that stupid map on the boat then maybe I could've helped Iris. Why does she have to cry though? She hasn't done anything wrong," Ash thought sadly as he watched Iris continue to weep. Though he hadn't even met Iris for a day, Ash already started to feel sad watching Iris cry. He went over and tried his best to comfort her. "Come on Iris, don't worry about it, we'll make it out of here eventually, and even if it takes us forever, I'll help you all the way."

Iris sniffled as though her face was wet with tears, what Ash had just said suddenly made her feel a lot better. "Wow you'd really do that?"

"Of course I would. I mean, we are like friends now right?"

"We sure are," Iris replied before gripping Ash into a hug. However she then sighed once again. "But still, it doesn't look like we're going to be out of here anytime soon. I mean, what's the point in this stupid map I was given anyway if I can't even-"

Ash suddenly interrupted Iris excitedly. "Wait a minute did you just say you have a map?" He asked hopefully.

"Well yes but if I can't exactly re-"

"Let me see," Ash replied determinedly.

Iris dug the map that Elder had given her out of her bag and gave it to Ash. "Why is there something up?"

However Ash gave a quick inspection of the map before looking up. "Yes! We have a map!"

"What can you read a map?" Iris asked with her hopes suddenly boosting.

"Of course I can. I just lost mine on the ferry. If I had a map all along, I never would've been in this mess in the first place."

"Wow, so we're saved!" Iris replied excitedly.

"We sure are!"

"So how long away from Striaton are we then?"

Ash inspected his map, looking for where the duo were at the moment. "Unfortunately we're quite far away from the end of this forest. Also once we get out there's another route preceding Striaton. It shouldn't be as big or as confusing as this forest though."

"So I guess we still kind of have a long way to go then," Iris replied slightly more disappointed than before but still relatively relieved.

"Sadly, but at least we know where we're going now. It could be worse."

"Let's follow this map then. I think you better lead the way this time."

The duo followed the map for a while until Ash started to feel his stomach grumble. "Oh boy!" He said out loud.

"What's wrong?" Iris asked looking for some reason concerned as Pikachu felt an anime-tear go down his face.

"Damn I really could get something to eat right now. I haven't eaten in ages." As Ash held his stomach, Pikachu continued to feel embarrassed, along with Axew while Iris' forehead turned purple.

Pikachu turned round to Iris and Axew. "I should've warned all of you about this."

Ash started to look around. Bearing in mind he was in a forest, there didn't appear to be much food on offer. "Oh geez, please say there's something here we can eat."

"Well there are some apple trees over there," Iris pointed to a bunch of trees nearby. Though they did have some healthy looking apples, all of them were near the top of the tree, which happened to be quite far up.

"But Iris," Ash replied. "All of the apples are right at the top of the tree, which is like five metres high."

"Oh there's no need to worry about that," Iris responded before jumping up into the tree and climbing right at the top in the blink of an eye, before picking a bunch of apples and jumping right to the ground immediately. As Iris gave Ash and the two pokemon an apple each, Ash and Pikachu looked stunned at what they had just seen.

"Wow, she really climbed the tree that quickly?" Ash thought.

As Iris ate her apple she looked at Ash who still looked rather surprised. "Hey Ash why are you so shocked all of a sudden?" she asked.

"Well what do you think? You just climbed a tree and got back down in like five seconds!"

Iris looked rather confused before shrugging her shoulders. "And... is it really that impressive?"

Ash still looked bemused. "Well of course!"

"Oh it's not that much. I climb trees all the time. I'd always end up getting told off for it but-" Iris suddenly stopped and thought back to what she had just said. "Hey wait a minute! Whenever I'd climb a tree or something, people would usually tell me off or look at me as if I was some kind of weirdo. Why is Ash complementing me all of a sudden?" she thought. It was true. Iris would always climb trees in school. In the school playground there were plenty of trees. Iris would always encourage her classmates to join her when she was climbing a tree. However, they would always just stare at her in a funny way as if she was some sort of strange loner. It even got to the point in which a teacher would take notice, and therefore Iris would end up in big trouble. The bottom line was that no one liked her climbing trees. However that never discouraged her at all. She still liked to climb trees for fun whether she was playing hide and seek or finding food. "He's actually complementing me for once. No one's ever done that before! Maybe Ash could be it; my first true friend. After all no one's ever been this nice to me in general."

Time passed before the evening arrived. Though the duo now knew where they were going, they still had not reached Striaton City and as it was getting dark, Ash and Iris decided to call it a day and camp at their current destination. "Looks like its getting dark. We should probably just stop now and sleep here for the night," Ash began.

Iris looked up to the sky, which was starting to get darker. "Yeah I guess you're right."

As Ash began to set up his tent, he looked up to Iris, who was sitting in a tree above. Ash looked confused. "Hey Iris, aren't you going to set up for the night as well?"

Iris looked down. "Oh no I'm alright. I'll just sleep in this tree."

"Are you sure about that?" Ash replied still rather surprised.

"Yeah I'll be fine! I mean it's not going to rain or anything." It wasn't too long before the sky turned pitch black, with plenty of stars in the sky. In the space where the Ash had set up his tent, the duo had lit a campfire. As the two trainers sat around the campfire, Iris was still rather curious to find out more about Ash. "So Ash, please tell me more about you then. What's it like travelling across a load of regions?"

"It's alright I guess. I mean its lots of fun and you do learn a lot of stuff but it's only as good if you're with someone you appreciate."

"Have you travelled with anyone else then?"

Ash sighed. "Don't even get me started. I travelled with three girls across four regions, named Misty, May and Dawn. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate them or anything. I was close with them but damn they can be annoying."

Iris on the other hand was taking in everything Ash said. "Have you ever travelled with someone you appreciate?"

"Well I did have one friend who I travelled all four previous regions with," Ash replied. "His name was Brock. Other than Pikachu he was my best friend. Unfortunately he had to follow his own dreams in becoming a doctor which is why he's not here today. He's probably back in Kanto operating on a metapod or something right now."

Iris looked slightly saddened right now. "So Brock must have been very important to you then."

"He sure was. It was gutting watching him go his own way. I just hope that someday I'll come across someone who can fill his gap, someone who will be as close a friend as he was to me."

Iris continued to look sad after what Ash had just said. "I'm really sorry to hear that." She looked at the floor. "I've never had a friend like that. I've never felt the pain unlike you."

"It sure was painful. But I've moved on from that. I'd never let that bring me down. I mean sure we had some great memories together, but I'll make new friends anyway. If I want to become a pokemon master then I can't let things like this bring me down. I'll just let them go and carry on," he spoke determinedly. "Although it would be better if I had someone who was really close to me," Ash continued but now looking to the floor slightly disappointed.

Iris saw that Ash was feeling slightly sad and went over and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure you will find someone special to you."

Ash looked up to Iris. "You really think so?"

"Yes I do, in fact that special friend you've longed to have since Brock left might be right in front of you right now." Ash, being Ash, looked confused for a few seconds. However he then looked up, rather joyfully.

"You'd really be my friend!" Ash replied cheerfully.

"Of course I would," Iris replied with a smile on her face. "I mean without you I'd probably be some nobody stuck in the middle of nowhere right now."

Ash was too happy to say anything back right now. He stood there rather happily surprised before embracing Iris tightly as quick as a flash. After he finally let go he now was able to speak. "I'm sure we will be the best of friends."

"I'm sure we will," Iris replied giving Ash a wink.

Ash and Iris hugged once again before Ash broke the hug up and began to scratch his arm. "Er so does this mean that..."

"Mean what?" Iris replied.

Ash continued to look nervous. "Well if, we are, like, best friends, does that mean that, oh what the hell do you want to travel the Unova region with me? I mean it will be a lot of fun, I'll make sure you have a great time!"

Iris now looked even happier. "I don't even have to think twice about this. Of course I will!"

Ash had now perked up completely. Once again he was speechless. All he could do was give Iris another massive hug. "Thank you thank you thank you! We'll have a hell of a journey together I know it!" Ash spoke cheerfully under the star filled sky as the moon began to come out.

The duo eventually decided to turn in for the night, with the campfire now burned out, Ash went into his sleeping bag inside his tent while Iris climbed into the tree where she would sleep for the night. "Goodnight Iris, have a good night sleep!" Ash called.

"You too!" Iris replied. As Ash settled down, Iris stared at the night sky with Axew snuck inside her hair fast asleep. "Wow Ash is such a great guy. I'm sure the two of us will have great fun together," she took a deep breath. "I'm so glad we met." However as she still sat in her tree, unable to settle after the adventurous day she had just experienced, she now started to feel a drop of water drip onto her, before another. "Oh no it's raining! What were the chances?" She tried to ignore the raindrops but unfortunately the rain only got heavier. Now she had to concede that it was too wet outside. "I can't sleep in these conditions. I'll just ask Ash if I can sleep in his tent. He's so going to say 'I told you so' but I guess I don't have any other choice." She walked into Ash's tent where Ash lay inside his sleeping bag. "Look at him sleeping," she thought. Though she didn't particularly want to admit it, she thought Ash was kind of cute. "Hey Ash," she began. Ash opened his eyes to see his new travelling partner beside him.

"Hey Iris, what's up?" Ash asked as he began to sit up.

"Do you mind if I sleep in your tent? It's sort of raining outside."

"Yeah sure," Ash replied. "You do have a sleeping bag don't you?"

"I think so, just for emergencies." She dug her sleeping bag out of her backpack and laid it out next to Ash's.

"I told you so," Ash said jokingly. Iris stood slightly unsure how to respond but then just smiled back.

Iris took another look at Ash before she went to bed. He was somehow fast asleep once again. "Isn't he a big sleeper," she thought to herself. Iris smiled once again before giving Ash a gentle kiss on the head. "Goodnight Ash."

The next morning came and due to the rain from the previous night the floor was rather damp and slightly muddy while the sky was still grey, much to the disappointment of Ash and Iris, as well as their two pokemon who had finally woken up and got out of Ash's tent. "Man I didn't think the rain would be this bad," Ash said looking around.

"Wow it really did chuck it down," Pikachu said. "Finding our way out of the forest today sure will be fun," he added sarcastically.

The four of them had a breakfast of apples (again,) before getting ready for another day of exploring the forest. "Do you know how far away from Striaton we are?" Iris asked.

"Hopefully not too far," Ash replied as they continued to walk through the forest. However as they were walking they began to hear a rustle in a bush.

"What's that?" Iris asked.

Iris' question was soon answered after Georgia popped out of the bush and slid across the floor. "Stupid Pidove," she muttered. She then turned around only to see Iris stare in shock alongside Ash. "Well well look who it is. It's dragon trainer Iris who can't even handle an ice type move.

"Oh no Georgia!" Iris panicked.

"Who is this?" Ash asked as he saw Iris slightly panic.

"It's Georgia. A girl I met in the forest before I met you. She's a dragon buster!"

"A dragon buster?" Ash looked slightly confused. "What on earth is that?"

"Basically someone who tries to go round destroying all dragon types/dragon type trainers. She battled me before I met you, forcing me to completely chicken out."

"I see," Ash replied looking slightly angry. "Well she's not going to get her own way this time?"

"And who's this little kid who's right next to you?" Georgia teased.

"He's not a little kid!" Iris snapped back while Ash blushed a little. "His name's Ash and he's my best friend so don't you dare say anything nasty about him!" As Ash looked surprised, Georgia started to snigger at the dragon type trainer. However when things couldn't get worse for Ash and Iris, along came another familiar face from behind.

"Well look who it is."

Ash and Iris turned round. "Trip! Not you again!"

"It's you again Ash Ketchup. And by the looks of things you've befriended a palm tree."

As Trip laughed at his own joke, Ash was now very upset after what Trip had just said. "Don't you dare call her that! Her name's Iris! If you call her a palm tree again then-"

However as Ash continued to get angry, Iris desperately tried to get him to calm down. "Calm down Ash, don't get too angry. You can just do your talking on the battlefield."

As Ash tried to calm down, Trip appeared to be rather pleased with the prospect of the battle. "Oh so you want a battle? Well you're on. I can't wait to show you how powerful I am."

"Fine, we'll have a battle then," Ash agreed, determined to defeat his enemy. "That'll teach you about messing with my friends!"

"Hey hey can't Iris and I battle first?" Georgia interrupted looking rather unhappy with her hands on her hips.

"Fine," both Ash and Trip moaned.

"A battle?" Iris moaned. She gulped. "Oh boy."

With both Ash and Iris anticipating a battle with their rivals, things can surely only get tougher for the two. Can Ash prove Trip wrong on the battlefield or does Trip have a trick up his sleeve? Meanwhile will Georgia reduce Iris to tears once again or will Iris get revenge? Whatever the outcome, we can well and truly expect two fiery battles but who will win? Stay tuned to find out...

**There we go. Chapter 4 is complete! I hoped you liked my announcer bit at the end (which you guys were meant to interpret as if the guy who does the announcement at the end of every episode** **in the anime series was saying it.) This chapter did take a while but as soon as I got on with it, I actually had a lot of fun so I thoroughly hope you enjoyed reading it. I know this chapter was kind of lame as it lacked action but I will try and add more action in the next chapter (which I will try and post ASAP.) I'm actually hoping to get the whole fanfic finished relatively soon as writing this chapter gave me an awesome idea for another fanfic (though I won't do that until I've finished this one.) Anyway thanks a lot for reading PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW and REVIEW (I really appreciate it,) and stay tuned for the next chapter.**

**CYA GUYS!**

**Charizard58**

**P.S. If you were wondering about where 'Best Of Negaishipping' is then there is a statement on my profile page explaining. **

**P.P.S. By the way did I ever tell you that on my profile page I occasionally post notices so please take a look at some point. If you are that interested then you can check regularly. I promise that if I have anything important to say, there will be a message on my profile page.**


	5. Chapter 5 (Part 1)

**Hello friends! I am finally back with the next chapter of So Glad We Met. I'm sorry that it took so long it's just that writing a battle scene is very exhausting. If you don't think that's a valid excuse then there's a note on my profile page explaining in further detail. Anyway for those of you who didn't read the note on my profile page, this is not actually the whole of what I planned. In fact this is only half of what I had in mind for this chapter. It's just that I didn't want to leave you waiting for another month or two so I thought I'd post what I've got so far. Anyway without any further ado we will start the next chapter. I worked very hard on this so I hope you enjoy it...**

**NOTE: Like in previous chapters I have made up some of the moves used in this chapter i.e. given pokemon moves they don't have in the anime. **

"Alright," Georgia began about to throw her pokeball out. "It's time to see what you've learned since I last battled you. "Vanillish, come on out!"

"What!" Iris yelled out loud in dismay as Axew looked concerned. "Vanillite evolved?"

"Well duh? Do you still think you can beat me now?" Georgia teased.

Iris now looked rather concerned. She looked at Axew who also looked worried. "Oh no, I can't back out now," she thought. "But if I battle Vanillish will completely destroy Axew. And bearing in mind me and Ash still can't find a pokemon centre, we could be in trouble."

As Iris was stuck deep in thought, Axew too didn't particularly want to battle either. "Is Iris seriously going to battle me against Vanillish?" he thought nervously. "I won't stand a chance! But then again what choice do I have?"

Ash saw that both Axew and Iris were looking desperately worried about the situation. Even though he had only known Iris for two days, seeing her looking upset or worried was something he very much hated. He went over to comfort the two. "Hey Iris why do you look so worried?"

Iris sighed. "I can't battle her," she whispered in a rather panicky state.

"Why not?" Ash replied.

"Well when I last battled her I completely freaked out, and back then she had a Vanillite! Bearing in mind it's evolved I'm not going to stand a chance. The only pokemon I have is Axew and a strong ice type pokemon like Vanillish could absolutely destroy him. I don't want Axew to be badly hurt."

"And? It doesn't matter if you lose, the whole point of going into a battle is to be confident doing so. There's got to be someone who loses in a battle. You shouldn't be ashamed if you do lose. Axew won't have the advantage and besides, I'm sure Georgia would take defeat as personally as you." However as Ash continued to try and consult Iris both Georgia and Trip were starting to get impatient.

"Will you just battle already? I've waited long enough," Georgia moaned.

"Yeah Iris just get on with it. I need to have a battle too," Trip complained.

"Okay, I'll do it," Iris finally agreed as Axew now felt more concerned. "Thanks a lot for the advice Ash."

"You're welcome, just go out there and enjoy it."

"I will," Iris replied before turning to Georgia. "Okay let's do this! Axew are you ready?"

"Er I guess," Axew nervously replied.

Iris sighed. "Look Axew there's no reason to panic. I know you may not feel confident but I'm not asking for you to win, I'm just asking for you to try your best. And I'm one hundred percent sure you can do that for me."

Axew clenched his fist in determination. "Then I will."

"Thanks Axew," Iris replied. She looked back up to Georgia. "Okay Georgia, you're going down!"

Meanwhile, on the sidelines Trip couldn't help but snigger at Iris. "Wow she thinks she can actually inflict damage on Vanillish with Axew, let alone defeat it. How can she honestly defeat an ice type with a dragon type?"

"I'm guessing you're going to want to have the first move then," Georgia began.

"Nah, you can have it actually," Iris replied. This surprised everyone, especially Axew.

"Okay then I will. Vanillish use Icicle Spear!" Vanillish launched an icicle spear that came straight towards Axew. However Iris looked the least bit unconfident.

"Axew dodge," Iris commanded. Without any fuss Axew managed to dodge the move. "Good job Axew! Now counter with scratch!" Compared to the previous battle, Axew's scratch seemed to do a lot more damage and despite any effort, Vanillish was unable to dodge the move. The impact even sent it to the floor. "Great hit Axew!" Iris cheered in delight.

"Oh so you're going to play the hard way then," Georgia replied, clearly unhappy with how strong Axew was. "Well try and handle this! Vanillish use Ice Beam!"

"Oh no! She's using that move again!" Iris panicked. She now flashed back to yesterday when she was doing such a great job against Georgia until the dragon buster used that exact move in which Iris completely chickened out, humiliating herself right in front of Georgia. However as Iris was completely lost in thought, Vanillish's Ice Beam attack hit Axew head on. "Axew no!" Iris panicked as Axew fell to the floor relatively hard. "Please stay strong Axew!" Despite the damage though, Axew managed to struggle back up. "Well done Axew!"

On the touchline however, Ash didn't look as confident as Iris. "Oh no Axew looks like he took a lot of damage in that last move," he thought. Unfortunately Ash was right. Though Iris was unaware, Axew did look badly hurt from that past attack, bearing in mind it was super effective. "I hope that doesn't affect his offence in any way."

Axew now got up and after brushing his bruises off, gave a rather angry look. However before Iris could command Axew's next move, Axew completely took her by surprise. He launched a massive Assurance attack which hit Vanillish straight on. "Wow how did Axew do that?" An astonished Iris thought. "I haven't even taught him that move! Where did he learn that from?" Vanillish was completely taken by surprise and therefore knocked to the floor.

"Vanillish!" Georgia feared. Fortunately for her Vanillish was able to continue though Iris didn't care as she was too astounded by what she had just seen.

"Wow that was amazing!" Iris cheered. "Keep it up Axew!"

"Axew must have learned that move himself," Georgia thought. "Well it's better than trying to get Iris to teach the move to him at least." She looked at Iris, whom still looked pleasantly surprised at what she had just seen, and gave an angry look. "So you want to play hard? Then that's what we'll do! Vanillish use Ice Beam again!" Georgia commanded.

"Ice Beam again," Iris panicked. "Oh well I'm not letting Axew get hit this time. Axew dodge!" Axew managed to dodge the move but as she dodged the Ice Beam attack once again came towards Iris. She now began to remember what had happened the last time Axew dodged this move. How the Ice Beam came straight towards her causing her to completely freak out. "I can't wimp out this time," she thought. This time she managed to dodge the attack without fuss. "Well that was rather easy," Iris thought rather surprised. "Why didn't I just do that last time?"

"Wow you learned to dodge a move," Georgia teased.

"You can laugh all you want but the joke's going to be on you in a minute!" Iris hit back. Unfortunately for Georgia she was right.

"Looks like Axew knows how to dodge Ice Beam; my strongest move. Looks like we're going to have to go to Plan B if we want to win this," she thought, slightly starting to feel worried.

Meanwhile on the sideline, Ash was thoroughly impressed with how Iris was battling. "Wow I never knew Iris could be this strong in battle. I'd never seen her competitive side before."

"Let's get on with this Axew! Use scratch!" Iris commanded. Once again Axew managed to hit Vanillish with the attack, much to the annoyance of Georgia.

"How can Axew be winning? And why is Scratch inflicting THAT much damage?" Georgia thought furiously.

"Alright go Iris!" Ash cheered.

"Oh come on," Trip replied. "Georgia obviously doesn't have much of a clue either. Normally a Vanillish would wipe the floor against an Axew like Iris'."

"Well isn't he big headed," Ash and Pikachu both thought as Trip continued to slag off both Georgia and Iris.

Back on the battlefield, Georgia was now visibly starting to get frustrated. "Okay Vanillish, we've got to up our game this time around. Now Vanillish, use Icicle Spear several times!"

Iris started to worry as the Icicle Spear's came straight towards Axew. "Axew try and dodge," she commanded without any kind of enthusiasm. Unfortunately Axew was unable to dodge all of them, therefore most of them hit him straight on. "Axew no!" Iris panicked.

"Oh no, a critical hit!" Ash feared on the sidelines.

"Please hang in there Axew, I know you can do this," Iris begged to her partner pokemon with a glint in her eye. At this point Axew started to look rather tired and on his last legs. Even Axew knew that if Vanillish hit him once more, he'd faint. Despite struggle, Axew managed to get onto his feet. "Wow Axew you're alright! That's amazing! Now let's not let Georgia defeat us at this stage, use Scratch!" At this point, even though Axew was able to carry on he clearly wasn't completely fit. As he ran over to Vanillish, who also looked rather fatigued, he couldn't help but slow down. By the time Axew finally ran over to hit Vanillish, the move was so weak that even despite the fact that Vanillish managed to avoid the move, it wouldn't have made any kind of damage at all. In fact he was so drained that the failed move managed to make himself fall over.

"Uh oh looks like Axew and Iris are in deep trouble," Ash moaned. "Looks like it's Georgia's battle to lose, if Axew carries on he'll be knocked out completely."

However no one was more concerned than Iris herself. "What should I do?" She thought in fear. "Axew's all but knocked out. If I continue then Axew will go down completely."

Meanwhile Georgia saw how worried Iris looked and gave a rather smug look. "She knows that Axew can't handle any more. She surely can't carry on, looks like another forfeit."

Iris looked over to Georgia who gave an arrogant look as if to say that she had already won. "But I can't give up. After all I gave up last time all because of nothing. At least if Axew and I carry on we can have some dignity." She looked down at Axew who despite looking shattered to pieces, still had a determined look in his eye. "He still wants to battle. I can't let him down just like that. I can't believe I ever even considered pulling out of this battle."

"Well are you going to carry on then?" Georgia teased.

"Of course I will!" Iris replied, more energetic than ever.

"Wow she's carrying on?" Pikachu and Ash both thought rather dumbfounded.

"What the hell, Iris is actually carrying on? Is that girl mad or something?" said Trip who also seemed rather flabbergasted.

"Well if you're prepared to go for it then I'll teach you a rather valuable lesson," Georgia began. "Vanillish, use Ice Beam!"

"If this hits Axew then he's going to faint for sure," Iris thought. "Well what do I have to lose?" "Axew use Assurance!" As he watched Vanillish charge towards him with a powerful Ice Beam, Axew too knew he had nothing to lose. Despite being completely worn out, Axew was able to store up a whole lot more energy than usual and suddenly lashed out a massive Assurance attack. As both pokemon launched their moves at each other furiously, a massive explosion appeared. Iris, as well as Ash and Pikachu, could only look on nervously. Unfortunately, as all of the dust cleared up following the impact, all that Iris could see was her tusk partner pokemon lying on the floor unable to move; it had fainted. "Axew no!" She panicked. She could feel her heart sink completely as she ran over to Axew. "Are you okay?"

Meanwhile Georgia gave a massive grin on her face. "Well well, it looks like I've won again, right Vanillish?" However as she was waiting for a response from her ice type pokemon, it could only spin round dizzily before falling to the ground. "WHAT!" Georgia moaned. In a sudden and bizarre change of events, Vanillish had also fainted. Georgia gave an almost sympathetic look as she looked on at the knocked out Vanillish.

On the sidelines, both Ash and Trip could not believe what they had just seen. "Woah, it's a tie!" Ash said out loud.

"An ice type pokemon couldn't even beat a dragon type pokemon? Seriously?" Trip mocked.

"Wow you managed to defeat Vanillish!" an ecstatic Iris said to her Axew . "Even if you were defeated too that's way more than I could ask for! Well done Axew!" However Iris suddenly stopped celebrating when she saw Georgia. Though she would hate to admit it she was absolutely crushed inside by the fact that she couldn't defeat a dragon type pokemon.

"How did I lose to a lame old dragon pokemon?" Georgia bemoaned. "I mean a dragon type pokemon for goodness sake!"

Iris tried to console Georgia, she went over to try and give her a handshake. "You played well," she began.

However it was little consolation as Georgia refused to shake her hand furiously. "What do you mean I battled well?! I lost! To you! That's the worst a dragon buster like me can do!" she then ran off heatedly.

"Well you don't have to be such a jerk about it!" Iris hit back in anger.

"Wow what a loser!" Trip laughed. "She couldn't even stay behind to watch a real pokemon match."

"What do you mean a real pokemon match?" Iris asked.

"Don't you remember? It's my turn now to destroy Ash, right Ash?" he teased.

Ash however, in the midst of all the excitement during the battle, completely forgot he was battling Trip. "You think you're going to destroy me? Well we'll see about that!" However even he could only feel slightly worried by the prospect of battling Trip...

_After Iris is held to a tie with Georgia, it is now Ash's turn to take to the battlefield but does he have what it takes to defeat Trip? Can Ash and Pikachu win their first battle in the Unova region? Does Trip have as much power as he claims? Only time will tell but for now stay tuned..._

**So that was part one of this chapter. Part two will probably be available sometime next month so please stay tuned. If it's not up by then, then there'll probably be a note on my profile page explaining why. I'm sorry this chapter kind of sucked. Writing battle scenes is something I sort of struggle at so don't expect part two to be a whole lot better (please don't hate!) Also if you have any advice then please say so. Even if this was a bad chapter I hope you enjoyed reading this and PLEASE review (I beg you.) I really could do with some reviews right now as reading reviews always cheers me up. Once again if you think I can improve anything please specify. I will most definitely observe them so don't be afraid to do so (I don't bite!) Anyway thanks once again for reading, I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer and please stay tuned...**


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